Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Memories
by random-user-person
Summary: The world has been saved, the future changed, and Maria had to leave her dear friend. Now she lives in the afterlife with many other Pokemon. They all want her story of how and why she changed time. She remembers everything about her human life from the future. She goes on to tell her story of the future and the decision that changed the world.
1. Chapter 1

((AN: Hello there, this is the author of this story. I know that everybody hates author notes, but I feel this one is important. I've noticed my story has a lot of reads, but only a few favorites and followers. I'm guessing this is because something in my story is not the best that it could be. So I'm just asking dear reader that if you read this and notice something poorly written or bad in the story, **Please leave a comment so I know to fix it. **I really want to improve my writing, and that''s not going to happen without some help. Please and thank you! Enjoy the story!))

* * *

_'My body...feels heavy...What's wrong?' I wondered to myself. My body felt like it was weighed down by immense pressure and weight. I could barely move my legs as we moved away from Temporal Tower. Then the reason why hit me. 'We changed the future, I'll disappear like Dusknoir said.' I kept walking along behind my friend, Riley._

_The ground began to shake. "Ah, tremors!" Riley exclaimed. He looked from side to side then forwards again to make sure the path was safe. "I guess things are settling back to normal now that we saved Temporal Tower and the world. Let's get going, Maria." he set off on his merry way once again._

_I began to follow, when light began to emit from my body. 'What the heck is going on?' I was beginning to panic now. 'Oh, I get it, my time with Riley ends now.'_

_Riley was way ahead when he called back, "Hey, Maria, come on, I activated the Rainbow Stoneship." the cheerful Riolu ran back to get me and leaped with surprise when he saw me. Tears were pouring down my face as I looked at his scared expression. "What's wrong with you?"_

_I swallowed the lump in my throat, wiped my tears, and spoke, "I'm so sorry Riley, I kept this to myself for a long time." my voice was shaking now, "I have to say goodbye now." I had to be strong for his sake._

_Riley looked at me with a confused expression, "Goodbye, what do you mean?"_

_I sighed, Riley was not making this easy, "Dusknoir told me that if we change the future, we Pokemon of the future will disappear. That's why I'm destined to disappear."_

_Riley had tears in his eyes now too. "W-what? W-why, why do you have to..."_

_I cut him off, I couldn't take much more of this, "Thank you for everything." the light grew brighter, I knew time was running short, "I have to go now. Even if I disappear, I will never forget you Riley."_

_Riley moved towards me, "B-but you don't understand, Maria. You were the only reason I made it this far. You made me..." he was crying a river now, "You made me strong, Maria. I don't know what I would do without you."_

_I shook my head, "No, Riley, you have to live. You have to be strong on your own now, I know you can. You have to go home and tell everyone of our adventures, and of what happened here. I don't want anything like this to happen again."_

_The light was shining brighter, I knew it was almost time to go. Riley realized it too, "No, Maria, please don't go."_

_My body was being weighed down, and I fell. Riley ran to me and held me in his arms. "Riley, I'm glad we trained at the guild together. I'm glad we adventured together. Most of all," the lump in my throat made it impossible to speak for a second, "I'm glad I got to know you." I couldn't cry not now, I have to let Riley remember me with a smile._

_Riley hugged me even tighter, "I'll never let you go, I'll never forget you."_

_I looked up into his eyes and smiled, "Even after I disappear, I'll never forget you either."_

_The weight on my body lifted and the light obscured my view of Riley. I knew I was already gone, but I shouted out one last thing. "Riley, I will never forget you, not ever."_

_But he didn't hear me, the only thing left of me was a single orb of light floating around Riley. He grabbed at it and held it in his paw. He turned and walked towards the Stoneship with great difficulty. "I won't ever forget you either."_

_My vision faded to black._

* * *

I woke up Arceus knows how much later. I thought I was still knocked out or something though because no matter where I looked, it was pitch black. I was curled up in the fetal position still, so I uncurled and stood up. My legs felt wobbly, but I resisted the urge to fall over again. I felt like I was floating on air, but I just ignored the fact and blamed it on my legs.

I tried to walk forwards a little bit but fell down almost instantly. I braced myself for impact with the ground, but I ended up doing a flip in mid air. I stopped ignoring the airy feeling, and looked down. Even though it was dark, I noticed there was no ground. The fact made me leap, and I ended up floating at the level I jumped at.

"What the hell is wrong with this place?" I shouted, I was glad that my voice still worked.

"Oh, it is no hell, but it is no heaven either." a voice behind me said. I spun around to stare face to face with a Sableye.

I screamed and ran away from it. _'Is this the future?'_ I wondered. I kept running until a Chansey caught me in her arms.

"There is no need to be afraid child, Gem always feels the need to scare new-comers." she scooped me up in her arms and cradled me like a child. My heart still beat rapidly in my chest from fear. "He not such a scary guy once you get to know him."

I moved around in the Chansey's grip to look at her face, "Who are you?" I asked.

"You may call me mom or mother like all the rest of the Pokemon who live here do, but Chansey works too. I look after and care for all here." she answered. She started walking towards a far off light.

I struggled against her grip on me, "Where am I? Also, no offense, but I don't really trust you."

"Most don't trust me at first due to their struggles in the world of the living, but you will hopefully realize that we are all trust worthy here. And on that note, welcome to the afterlife." she responded.

I sank back down in her arms, _'I'm dead?'_ The realization hit me like a stack of bricks. "So, I died?"

"Yes, and most likely in a painful way based on how much you struggled when you were asleep on the ground back there." Gem said, he floated gently through Chansey's and my body.

I yelped and struggled in Chansey's arms. Chansey stopped and glared at Gem, "I told you to stop scaring her, she's terrified enough as it is!"

Gem held up his hands in a surrendering pose, "All right, all right, I'm sorry." he held out his hand for me to shake it. "So, what's your name kid?"

I looked at Gem puzzled, "Wait, you don't recognize me? But, I thought you were one of them?" I said remembering the Sableye of the future.

"Of course I don't know you. We don't have a window or anything to look at the world of the living with. I don't know you kid, I died thousands of years ago." Gem responded.

I was confused at how a ghost type could die, but I went along with it, "Well, I had some bad run-ins with Sableye while I was alive. My name is Maria by the way."

We kept walking along, the duo of Gem and Chansey were explaining to me how the world of the living and dead were interconnect with all universes that had Pokemon living in them. In some worlds, humans caught Pokemon and used them as battle tools. In some, Pokemon lived as overlords to the humans, and the exact reverse in another. They went on and on about the different parts of the after life world. Every universe had a part that the spirits lived in. I would be living among others from my universe.

I listened to parts of it, but part of my mind kept thinking about Riley. He had heard me right after I died. It made me so happy to realize that. I wondered how he was doing, if he was still at the guild, if he still had the last yellow orb that I disappeared in, and many other things.

We walked for what seemed like an eternity-and it could have been for all I know-before we reached the light. I thought it was going to be a giant sun, but it was a clearing with trees and flowers and a lake and many other beautiful pieces of scenery. Pokemon were running around playing with each other, jumping over others who were sitting there talking, and many just laying around sleeping.

Chansey put me down and I walked to the edge of the grass. It was weird how one area was an endless (for all I knew) black expanse and one little area was paradise. I remembered Gem and Chansey saying there were other areas, but this one was the favorite. I was confused about that since they said every universe had a part and they didn't intersect much, but I just went along with what they said. I walked through the grass, it felt so real, but was it? The warmth of a light from somewhere above kept it warm like a nice spring day. There was a breeze that blew from somewhere.

Gem and Chansey were walking behind me. They kept nudging me forwards when I stopped for a while. "The best part is just ahead." Gem said.

Gem was right, when we finally stopped at the top of a large hill, I could see a beautiful lake with an island in the center. On the island grew a giant tree that towered above everything. I stared in awe of it, it was enormous. Gem came up beside me and closed my jaw for me, I hadn't even noticed it was open. It brought me back to reality (if this could even be considered one) and I laughed at Gem's gesture. He smiled at me and held his arm ahead of him in an offer to keep moving forwards. There was a bridge that led across the lake to the island.

As we walked over it, I noticed many water types swimming around in the water and enjoying themselves. One of them noticed me and gasped. "A new Pokemon!" she shouted. And so the word spread like wildfire. Many Pokemon went to the island in the center and watched as I arrived. A crowd had gathered behind me as we walked along the bridge.

Gem and Chansey led me to a giant tree stump in front of the even larger tree. They lifted me up onto it and they followed. There was quite a crowd gathered around, they were all speaking and looking at me.

Chansey lifted her hands up for everyone to quiet down. "All right everyone, as you noticed, there is a new arrival here. Her name is Maria, and I'm very surprised that so many of you noticed a small Eevee's arrival. Maybe there is something you all see that I do not." But her voice hinted that she knew there was something special about me.

I stepped forward to speak to everyone, "Like Chansey said, I'm Maria, um..." I trailed off, I didn't know what else to say.

"How did you die?" a voice in the crowd shouted.

I was shocked that some one asked that, "I'm sorry, what did you ask?"

Gem came up to me, "It's a very normal question here, we're all interested in what happened in the land of the living."

I was still uncomfortable talking about it, "Well, I changed the past, even though I came from the future. I basically erased myself from time." I didn't know how to explain it, it was such a messed up experience.

Several gasps raised from the crowd. "Were you the one who killed several hundred Pokemon? Were you the one who changed the paralyzed future?" a dark type shouted from the front row. It was a Poochyena.

"You killed thousands!" "You're a monster!" "How dare you mess with time!" Several other shouts like those could be heard throughout the crowd.

I was crying now, I thought I had done the right thing, wasn't it what most Pokemon and humans wanted in the future? That's what I remember. _'Wait, I remember! My life, I can remember everything. My life, my mom, the future, that Treeko...everything is back!'_

Over the shouts, I heard one voice raise above all the others, "Why?"

The rest of the crowd quieted down, and started to agree with this question. "Yeah, why?" "Tell your story."

"Because the future was an awful place, so almost every Pokemon and human agreed to change it." My answer must have been to simple, because the crowd started shouting again.

Chansey moved to the front of the tree stump and held up her arms, "Hush, my children, let's listen to everything Maria has to say." She really was like a mother, the crowd quieted and was soothed with her words.

Gem ran up to me again and whispered in my ear. "Tell your whole story, the moment that led to a stair-step of events that led to you changing the future." He then faced the crowd. "She'll tell us the whole story, then you can ask her more questions. Go ahead Maria."

My memory was still slightly fuzzy, but I was able to remember after a few minutes of thinking, "Okay, it all started one day during the middle of the school year..."


	2. Chapter 2

I stared out the window of the classroom, it was another boring day of class filled with lectures. My mind drifted from thought to thought, but it always came back to one. _'What was it like before the whole world was dark all the time?'_ The teachers had explained there was this thing called the sun that shone a beautiful light and made the whole world warm. They said there was wind, a movement in the air that made objects move. They explained many other things about the world of the past, but nothing made sense to me. I tried to imagine anything besides this dark world, but it was impossible.

I was watching a Poochyena who was slinking around outside, it had its nose to the ground in a search for food. I smiled when it jumped in surprise when it knocked a trashcan over. It made me laugh watching its reaction to the foreign object.

I must have been too loud, because the teacher came over and hit my desk with a ruler to get my attention. "Maria, were you paying any attention to the lesson at all?" she demanded.

I snapped my attention from outside to her. Her graying hair was tied back in a tight bun, her eyes were beady and had an enraged look about them, and when she spoke to me her lips and nose scrunched up as if she smelled something unpleasant. I sat up straight to answer her, "Yes I was, Mrs. Darkheart."

She smiled a cruel smile and said, "Then you would be able to tell me about the order of our current government. How about you get up in front of the class and do so." She gestured up to the front of the classroom by the chalkboard.

I groaned and walked up to the front reluctantly. Most of the other kids were half asleep or asleep, except for a few who were giggling at me under their breaths. I loathed them, they seemed to have some kind of hate against me even though we had barely talked to each other.

I took a deep breath and started, "Well, it's divided simply between humans and Pokemon. We humans are all equal except for the village elders. There are nine voted elders and then one voted leader. The leader must have the ability to talk to Pokemon, a rare one, none the less, but it is required to keep peace between us and them. Then the Pokemon government is divided like a military. There are many ranks with the head of it all being Primal Dialga."

* * *

I was interrupted from my story by a Pokemon in the crowd, "Wait, are you a human? Why are you an Eevee then? Why aren't you in the afterlife that humans go to?"

I pondered this question for a moment as the crowd erupted into shouting. 'My memory is back, but I still don't know why I'm an Eevee?'

Chansey moved to the front and gestured for the crowd to quiet down. "Please everyone, she will answer it all in due time."

I raised my voice so that the crowd could hear me over the side conversations they were holding, "I actually don't know how or why I'm a Pokemon. It happened while I was time traveling for an unknown reason."

The crowd didn't like this answer, they resorted to shouting again. Gem and Chansey were able to get them back under control again and they let me continue my story.

* * *

I smiled with how much I knew about the subject despite not paying much attention in class. I moved to sit back down, but Mrs. Darkheart held up her hand for me to stay.

"Go into more detail about the Pokemon side of the government." she commanded.

I smiled and answered, "It's a trick question, we haven't learned about the Pokemon government and won't ever since they do not reveal anything about how they function."

Mrs. Darkheart smiled her evil smile, as I like to call it, again and responded, "How about you firstly, start paying attention in class, and then secondly, turn around and tell me what you see."

I turned to look at the chalkboard behind me, it was a diagram showing a hierarchy that looked like some kind of government. "Um, I don't know what it is." That was a lie, I knew exactly what it was, it was a depiction showing how the Pokemon government worked with all the ranks in order. I was right about Primal Dialga being at the top at least.

Mrs. Darkheart came up to the front of the class again and explained how it was the exact workings of the Pokemon government, as if I hadn't figured it out already. The bell rang for the end of school in the middle of her explanation, so she told me, "How about you stay after school in detention and copy down the notes." It should have been a question based on how she worded it, but I knew it wasn't.

I pushed past others on my way back to my desk. One of the girls who had been laughing at me pushed me to the ground on her way by. I got up and glared at her, _'What a bitch.'_ I wish I could say that out loud to her face, but she would just turn my insult on me and get me into even more trouble. _'If I had a Poké for every time she bullied me...'_

I sat at my desk and looked out the window again. Mrs. Darkheart came by and shut the blinds in my face. It was pretty much pitch black in the room now except for the gentle light that a Litwick on her desk provided.

At one point, Mrs. Darkheart left the room to go get something. She said that Litwick would keep watch of me though, and sure enough, the little candle Pokemon didn't take his eyes off me. She came back, but then a teacher came in the room and asked her to come with him. She left once again and the little candle continued watched me.

This time was different though. Litwick watched me and I watched it back. I walked up to it and it snarled at me, "Touch me and I will-o-wisp you."

I jumped back from the desk. "Wait, you can speak? But, Pokemon aren't supposed to be able to talk to humans."

Litwick rolled his eyes as if the fact was obvious, "Of course I can speak, the more surprising fact is that you can understand me. That's a rare ability."

I thought about it for a little bit, but then realized the little Pokemon was right, it was speaking to me in a Pokemon language. "Wait, does this mean I could become an elder?" I asked.

Litwick turned away from me, "I don't really know or care. Heck, I don't really even care about watching you anymore, this is dumb."

_'Wow, what an idiot. It's only assignment was to watch me, and it doesn't care about me anymore.'_ I smiled that I had successfully gotten the Pokemon to not care about me. I walked back to my desk and slowly raised the blinds up so I could see outside. The site I saw startled me.

A Treeko was trying to get in the window by smacking it with his tail. 'How had I not heard him?' I opened the window allowing the small grass type to get in. Litwick had turned back around when he heard me open the window and sucked in a breath prepared to alert Mrs. Darkheart. Before he could do that though, Treeko spat a bullet seed into Litwick's mouth making it cough and sputter.

Litwick got the seed out and yelled at Treeko, "You stupid little grass type brat! How dare you-"

Treeko ran over to Litwick and knocked it out using it's tail. It began looking through the filing cabinets kept at the front of the room.

I walked up behind it and asked, "What are you doing?"

I must have snuck up on it, because Treeko jumped. It looked at me and blinked, then turned around and went back to the cabinet, "Stupid human, it should keep its nose out of Pokemon business."

I grabbed the Treeko's tail and yanked it out of the cabinet once more, "Well, excuse you, I'm not stupid, and I let you in through the window, I think I have the right to know what's going on."

Treeko blinked in surprise, "But...how? How did you understand me? Humans can't do that."

"It's a rare ability to be able to talk to Pokemon, but I have it so I can talk to you." I answered. Litwick was beginning to stir, so I picked it up and tossed it out the window Treeko came in. I shut the window and asked Treeko one more time, "What are you doing?"

Treeko rolled its eyes, "Ugh, fine, I'll tell you. I was researching Time Gears, you humans have some records of them."

It was my turn to be confused, "I'm sorry, what? What the heck are Time Gears?"

Treeko took advantage of me being stunned and wiggled free from my grip, "See, humans are stupid, they don't even know what Time Gears are. They used to control the flow of time or something, but became completely useless when time stopped."

"Information like that isn't going to be here." I told him.

Treeko glared at me, "You already proved you don't know anything, so I'm not listening to you."

I heard the town Chimecho ringing to signal that it was four o'clock. Our village had set up a time schedule of our own since there was no way of knowing what time it was. Clefairy sat up in the bell tower and kept time by using metronome. They would count seconds, which turns into minutes, which turns into an hour at which Chimecho would ring. We had twenty-four hours in a day like the people of the past did.

I assumed that detention was up after an hour, so I went back to my desk to collet my things. I then walked back up to Treeko and picked him up. "Come on, I'll take you to what you're looking for." I walked back to the window and climbed out of it, I didn't want to run into my teacher in the hallway if my time wasn't up.

"Let me go! You jerk, put me down!" Treeko shouted. It was punching me with its tiny fists and trying to get free again.

"I told you, I'm taking you to where you need to be. The town has records of this kind of thing where the elders live."

Treeko crawled into my arms and pouted, "Ugh, fine, if you insist."

I stopped when we got to the edge of town. "Look, wild Pokemon aren't supposed to be in the village, so if you want what you're looking for, you have to hide in my bag." Without waiting for him to answer, I shoved him into my bag, smothered him with my jacket to keep him quiet, and walked into town.


	3. Chapter 3

The trip to the elder's home was a long one. It wasn't long distance wise, that was only about two hundred feet. What made it feel like an eternity was Treeko. He kept squirming around in my pack which made people stare. I actually ran into Mr. Darkheart, who hated me just as much as his wife, who asked me to empty my bag for him to see what was in it. I had set my bag down to let Treeko out while I emptied my bag. He was skeptical when I showed him a pile of books and an empty bag, but he let me pass.

I opened the door and stepped into the library that made up the front room in the elder's home. It held some of the most ancient texts in existence. I figured it would have what Treeko needed.

I was about to let Treeko out of my bag on the near by table when I heard a voice behind me, "Ah, hello there Maria. How are you today?" I turned to see Elder Lightner descending down the stairs. She was the nicest of the nine in my opinion. She kept her gray hair tied back in yellow ceremonial ribbons that matched her robes.

I quickly shoved Treeko back in my bag in hopes that she would not notice the small grass type. She did though, of course. _'Just my luck.'_

She picked up the bag and eyed the Treeko. "So, why did you bring a wild Pokemon into town, and especially here in the town's records location?"

I thought for a second, I actually had no idea why I brought him, _'I didn't have to, maybe I was just feeling nice...'_ I took a deep breath and began, "Well, he said he needed help, so I was being nice and helping him."

Elder Lighner looked at me weird, "He _said_, as in, you could understand him?"

'_Great, I just made this worse.'_ I thought through my words before I spoke this time, "Well, yeah, I have the ability to speak to Pokemon. He explained he needed help..."

Treeko popped his head out of the bag, "I didn't need help, I was just fine on my own. You butted in."

I was about ready to strangle the dumb little thing, "No, you were lost, you were looking for sacred information in a school. You _totally_ didn't need any help."

Treeko flicked his tail anxiously, as he did, it glowed with attack power, "Some help you were, you got us caught!"

Treeko was about to leap from the bag when Lightner cleared her throat loudly, "What was this Treeko looking for exactly? I could only understand one side of the conversation."

I snapped back to the reality that my argument with a Pokemon was being watched, "Oh, well, he needed some help finding information about the Time Gears. Do you know anything?"

Lightner nodded cautiously, "Yes I do, but, like you said, it's very sacred information." She looked at Treeko, "May I ask why you need it?"

Treeko looked at me, "Look, I need you to lie for me. I'll tell you the actual story later. Say it's for a, um, school project. Yeah, a school project, that works."

I frowned at him for making me do this, "He says it's for a school project. Apparently they're trying a new curriculum and this is one of the topics covered."

Lightner looked at me as if she did not trust me, but said, "All right, come with me." She led us back to a secluded part of the building and led us down a flight of stairs that looked like they hadn't been used in a while. She grabbed a sleeping Litwick from the pedestal and handed him to me.

"All the information you will need is somewhere in here. Good luck finding what you need, young Treeko." She left us alone in the dark room to look for the needed book.

When she got out of range of hearing I dumped Treeko onto the table in the middle of the room, "All right, what are you really here for. I'm starting to think I made a bad decision to show you around."

Treeko looked at me insulted for dumping him out so roughly, "Fine fine fine, stop being so impatient. The truth is, I heard an interesting rumor while at training."

"Training?"

"Yeah, you explained how the Pokemon government works sorta like a military. Well, that's very true. I'm new to the system, so I go through training like the other newbies. The instructor explained something of an old legend. It was about how the Time Gears kept time flowing. Well, what if they failed and time is stopped because of it? That's why I'm here, I want the whole story and if it really does relate to our frozen world." Treeko explained.

He leapt from the table and climbed up and down the shelves throwing books at me and the table. The legend seemed so weird to me, _'Could these Time Gears really be why time is stopped now?'_ I started looking through the books Treeko picked out and tossed aside the ones that wouldn't produce results. We finally had a pretty big pile going and so we began the long task of finding good information.

We scanned the books and shared stuff we found to be useful. There used to be guardians who guarded the areas where the time gears were. If time started stopping, they were to be taken to Dialga (not yet Primal) atop Temporal Tower. They were dangerous to mess with too because of their time stopping and starting capabilities.

I closed the book I was looking through and leaned back against the wall I was sitting by, "Wow, this is so much information to take in. Are we ready to call it a day?"

Treeko didn't look up at me, "No way, this is amazing! Listen to this, there's a Pokemon named Celebi who lives in the forest around here. She has time traveling capabilities. Maybe she can take us back to when time flowed. I really wanna see what it looks like."

I had heard about Celebi in school. They were legendary Pokemon who time traveled and rarely made themselves seen to others. "I don't know, it's a legendary, and they don't usually cooperate."

Treeko looked up at me with his big eyes, "Can we please at least try to find it and get more information about the legend?"

I looked away from him, it was hard to say no when he was that cute, "Maybe later, I don't have school the day after tomorrow."

Treeko jumped up and down, "Yeah! Thank you so much!" He climbed into my bag and looked at me, "Let's go home! I'll go to school with you tomorrow and stay with you all day until we can go find Celebi."

"Um, that might not be a good idea. Wild Pokemon aren't allowed in the town, so they're not going to appreciate having you around. You can..." Treeko looked up at me with his big eyes again before I could finish my thought. I sighed, "You can stay with me."

Treeko leaped up and down inside the bag with excitement, "You are the best friend I've ever had!"

It melted my heart that he considered me a friend even if we had just met maybe a few hours ago. "You too, buddy. I don't think that I ever told you, but my name is Maria."

"My name is Treeko. It's great to meet you, Maria."

* * *

I woke up the next morning and got ready for school. Treeko was still asleep on my pillow, so I slipped him into my bag without waking him. In the middle of the night, he complained about his small pillow and blanket on the floor. I told him to suck it up and deal with it, but he gave me those stupid Lilpup-eyes again so I let him sleep on my bed with me.

I ran down stairs, grabbed something to eat, said goodbye and I love you to my parents, and was out the door. It was a wonder that my parents didn't discover Treeko last night since he kept making so much noise in his sleep. On my walk to school, I was joined by a few other students. We talked about tests and teacher and other gossip. They had heard about my detention that happened for no real reason other than me not paying attention.

"Seriously, no one else pays attention, but only you get in trouble. She must hate you or something." the boy, John, on my right said.

"John, teachers don't just hate people for no reason," Sarah, the girl on the other side of John, then turned to me, "you probably did something you don't know about. You need to go talk to her about it."

I huffed out a laugh, "And get more detention for no reason? Yeah, no thanks." The Chimecho rang for eight-o-clock, the time when school started, so we hurried off to our classes.

First hour was boring, I didn't know how I was going to get through the rest of the day. Treeko woke up sometime during my second class and started to freak out. He yelped and squirmed around in my bag. Before anyone noticed, I put my foot down on him as a sign to stop. Of course he didn't though, he just struggled more.

"When I get out of here, I'm going to kill you!" he shouted. People around me were starting to look. I grabbed my bag from the floor and glared at Treeko. He realized who I was and stopped with a sheepish look at me. "Sorry, I-I just..."

I interrupted him, "I just don't care, shut up! I'll let you out at lunch time."

I gently put him back under my desk with my books. I came back up to see a note sitting on my desk. The handwriting was sloppy, but with some effort I was able to read it. _'Is that a Pokemon? Can I see it during lunch? From: John'_

I turned the paper over and wrote back _'Maybe' _and sent it his way.

The rest of class finished without any more disturbances from Treeko. Third hour was when things got weird. Class was normal for maybe the first half, but then we got interrupted.

The principal stepped in and asked for me to come to her office. I got up and followed her obediently. Treeko didn't even notice me get up and leave, he just kept napping in my bag. The principal swung the door open to her office and let me go in first. She shut the door behind me and locked it.

"What the hell?" I jiggled the door handle. "Let me out!"

"Not yet, you need to answer a few questions first." said a voice from behind me. I turned around to see the town leader sitting at the principal's desk.

I searched my brain for his name, he didn't really do much around the town except for handle problematic Pokemon. The name just kept slipping my memory. "What do you need to know, um, I can't seem to remember your name."

He smiled in an attempt to lighten the mood, it just made it feel darker. "You may call me Grand Elder. It is the title I am going with currently." The chair creaked as he leaned forwards. "Please, sit down." It was an order and not a kind motion the way he said it.

I sat and glared at him, "I'm missing class, what do you want?"

His left eyebrow moved up, "You care about school all of a sudden? I've been told you couldn't care less about it. Anyways, that's not important. I wanted to know why you were at the town's elder's home yesterday. Especially why you were there with a Treeko."

"I would like to know this as well." said another deeper voice behind me. I turned to see a Dusknoir towering over me. His one eye glared down at me. "Why was one of my agents in training with you when you looked for information about Time Gears?"

My body froze with fear and I couldn't talk even if I wanted to. I saw the Grand Elder roll his eyes. "She can't understand you, I'm the only one with the ability to understand you at this point."

Dusknoir looked at the Grand Elder and said, "No, how else does she communicate with the Treeko?" he looked back down at me, "You can understand me perfectly, can't you?"

The lump in my throat that prevented me from speaking before seemed to grow a little. I looked at the Grand Elder and said, "Can you please translate for him? I don't know what he's saying." Lying was very hard right now due to fear, I couldn't keep my voice steady. Ghost types absolutely terrified me.

A sharp pain exploded in my right cheek. I cried out in pain and held it. I drew my had away and saw crimson blood. A Sableye was now standing at my left with its claws drawn. It sheathed them and smiled sinisterly at me.

Dusknoir put his hands on my shoulders and said, "We will meet again, and when we do, I want the answer. I also won't have my Sableye be as nice next time." He pointed to the shadowy corners of the room where smiling Sableye sat huddled.

The Grand Elder rose from his chair and walked to the door. He waved for the Pokemon to follow him. He let them go first then turned to me, "Also, you are to tell no one of this visit, understand?"

I nodded as I held my cheek, most of the blood had stopped. He smiled at me one more time before following the ghost types around the corner and out of sight.


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the school day was awful. Everyone who was in my class when I got called to the office wanted to know what happened. I lied saying that it was about Mrs. Darkheart's detention. I rushed out of the class as fast as possible when the bell rang; I was done dealing with everyone's questions. Fourth period went on normally and then it was finally lunch time.

I sat in the corner away from everyone else, but of course, that didn't stop Sarah and John from coming over to join me.

"John told me you had a Pokemon, is it true?" Sarah asked me.

"I want to see it! At least tell me what type it is!" begged John.

I sighed and brought my bag up from under the table. I shook Treeko out and onto the table. He was stunned for a few seconds but then got into an attack position. I pet his back as a sign for him to calm down.

"Relax, they're friends." I told him. He still looked at them warily, but trusted my word. His back slowly un-arched and he stood upright again.

I picked him up and put him back in my bag, "Okay, that's enough of him. Also, do you guys mind leaving me alone for a while, I'm not feeling too well."

Sarah looked offended, "We're your friends, we can help you through whatever you need help with. Does it have to do with your trip to the office?"

I really wanted to tell her the truth. It did have to do with my trip to the office. The Grand Elder seemed so different than how he acted publicly. My cheek still burned if I touched it, the Sableye cut it deep. '_Do I need stitches? Is it seriously that bad?_' The other thing that really bothered me was Dusknoir's threat.

They didn't have any evidence that I was there yesterday with Treeko, so how did they know? The revelation hit me, Lightner sold us out. She was the only one there, there's no other way they could have known. '_I trusted her, and she betrayed us._' That was probably also how Dusknoir knew I could communicate with Pokemon.

"Maria, you're really worrying us, are you okay?" John asked. "Did you hear anything we just said?"

I snapped back to reality and shook my head. Sarah filled me in, "We wanted to know if that gash on your cheek had to do with your trip to the office. Did someone hurt you? Also, we would help you go confront Darkheart."

I lied about my cheek. I told them I ran into an open locker on my way back to class. Sarah and John laughed at my stupidity. I faked a laugh, but it was hard since I knew the awful truth behind it.

They walked me to the nurse to get it fixed up. She said I didn't need any stitches, and that a simple bandaid would do; that was a relief to me. She fixed me up right then and there and let me stay in her office for a little bit. She said that she had sensed something not right about me and wanted me to talk to her about it. I refused, saying it was a secret. She gave me a sceptical look and sent me on my way. I went back to fifth period maybe fifteen minutes into it, but I didn't really know other than the fact I was late.

School went on normally for the rest of the day. Sixth and seventh period were nothing memorable. Eighth was the worst it has been ever. Darkheart seemed to hate me more than ever and I couldn't stop thinking of my office visit. '_Should we still try to go find Celebi? Do we even want to risk it? Should I tell Treeko what happened? I feel like he needs to know._'

Finally, the bell rang and school was out. Once again, I was the first one out the door and avoided eye contact with anyone. I ran home as fast as I could. I caught my breath by the front door and walked in. I greeted my parents, hugged mom, hugged dad, and ran up to my room.

I placed my bag down on my bed and let Treeko climb out. He looked up at me, concern in his big eyes, "Are you alright? You've been acting weird ever since you went to the office. Can you please tell me what actually happened?"

I sat down, picked him up, and hugged him like a teddy-ursaring. "I don't think we can go see Celebi tomorrow. I got threatened by the Grand Elder of the village and..." I saw eyes glinting in the shadowy corner of the room. Fear struck me like a thunder attack.

Treeko shifted and looked up at me, "And who? Who else threatened you?"

Claws and a smile were added to the set of eyes. "I'm not allowed to tell you," I leaned down and whispered to him, without taking my eyes off Sableye, "At least not right now."

Treeko followed where I was looking and jumped with fear. Sableye opened his mouth and giggled, "Wee-hee-hee!" He ran to my window sill and turned to face me, "Don't forget master Dusknoir's words." He leaped out nimbly, ran between the shadows and out of sight.

Treeko turned to me, his face was a mixture of fear and anger. "What the hell happened in the principal's office?"

I looked down at Treeko deciding whether to tell him or not. '_Dusknoir did mention Treeko in a way, so they have to know each other, and Treeko obviously knew what the Sableye was saying._' I sighed and told Treeko everything from this morning in the principal's office.

When I finished, Treeko looked absolutely terrified. I asked him what's wrong, my story shouldn't have freaked him out that much. "I can't ever go back home. Dusknoir will have my head." He was rocking back and forth. He stopped and looked up at me, "I'm so sorry for getting you into this, I think I just ruined your life."

He moved to the window sill, it was still open from when Sableye jumped out. "I'm leaving, I don't want harm to come to you because of me. I'm so sorry." he sobbed a little, then prepared to jump.

I grabbed him by the tail and yanked him back in my room. "You're not going anywhere. Our lives already suck in this time frozen world, I don't care if it gets any worse right now. We're still going to find Celebi tomorrow."

Treeko's eyes watered, he sniffed a few times then said, "Thank you, you're the best friend I've ever had. I'm sorry for whatever happens to us from now on."

I laid down on my bed to take a nap, I was scared and tired and didn't want to do anything else right now. Treeko crawled over me and snuggled into my arms like a stuffed Pokemon. I fell asleep almost instantly. I woke up when the Chimecho chimed midnight. I was hungry from missing dinner, so I went down stairs to get a snack.

As I walked through the house, I couldn't help but notice eyes glinting from the shadowy corners of the room. I ignored them as best I could, but my fear level continually increased the longer I stayed in the room with them. I got a snack from the pantry, I couldn't help but notice the five little ghost types sitting in the bottom. That pushed me over the edge, I had to get out of there.

I ran across the kitchen in a sprint. The noise of tiny feet behind me scared me. It got worse at the stairs. As I ran up the stairs, I could hear the Sableye behind me wee-hee-heeing as they pursued.

I locked myself in my room, sank down to the floor, and began crying. '_Why did I say that we could still go see Celebi? This was an awful idea, they're going to kill us. I'm such an idiot!_' I felt a small hand on my arm. I jumped thinking it was a Sableye, but saw only Treeko. I looked down at him trying to comfort me and an idea popped in my head.

"Get yourself ready, we're leaving to go find Celebi now. Sableye are downstairs, they're after us. We go to find Celebi now or we don't ever get the chance to." I told him. I picked myself up from the ground, I was still shaking with fear, but I ignored the horrible feeling. I packed my bag with some things and the held it to the ground for Treeko to climb in.

He climbed on the bag and up my arm to rest on my shoulder. "Let's go." he said, there was a fiery determination in his eyes.

I opened the window and sat on the ledge. I looked down at the ground below, I was on the second floor of the building so it was a drop down. I took a deep breath and took the plunge. I landed heavily on my feet, but I got up and started walking down the road to the edge of town. I looked sideways at Treeko occasionally, and he would smile back at me with a look of encouragement and determination.

We got to the edge of town and sat down for a moment. My legs hurt, most likely from jumping out the window, so I mended them with the bandages I brought from home. I didn't know much first aid, so I did my best hoping I was doing at least one thing right. I then took the map that we stole from the library out of my bag and looked at it. The world was always the same sad shade of light gray so I was able to read it without too much trouble.

We pinpointed the location on the map with the books that I had brought along. I rose up from where I sat and we began our trek through the forest.

* * *

We were dreadfully lost. We left at least three hours ago. The map made it look like the lake where Celebi dwelt was close to town, maybe a half hour walk at the absolute most. Three hours later, we were still wandering through the forest aimlessly.

"This is awful! I wish we could just go home, but we're lost so we can't." Treeko groaned. He was pretty heavily injured since he had to battle off quite a few wild Pokemon. I had tried my best to help him, but, once again, my limited first aid knowledge did nothing for us.

"I know, I feel the same way. I think we're getting close to Celebi though." It was the honest truth, the atmosphere had changed. It was like I had been filled with hope and joy, but for no real reason. There was also a thick white fog around the area. Both of these things were signs from the book that Celebi is near by.

Treeko and I were beginning to wear out, so we decided to sit down for a while. We ate wild oran berries to fill our stomaches a little bit, they also helped Treeko's wounds somewhat. I made a metal note of their Pokemon healing effect.

"So, you said we're getting close, how close though?" Treeko asked through a mouthful of berries.

"The book doesn't say," I answered, "but I'd assume that Celebi is in the area due to the fog. The book said that's a sign of her presence."

I packed our stuff back into my bag and placed Treeko on my shoulder again. We set out once again to find Celebi. It must have been another hour of endless wandering before we heard the most dreadful of noises. "Wee-hee-hee!" echoed around the forest. We ran as fast as we could away from where we were. We came to a lake and realized that we were trapped.

All color in Treeko's face drained, "Shit," he hissed. He jumped off my shoulder and landed on the ground with ease. He got into attack position, ready for them to come at us. "You need to get out of here, you have no defense against them."

I stooped down to the ground and picked up a few stones and placed them in my bag, "I'm not leaving you here alone. I'll throw these at them as distraction, and you hit, got it?" Treeko nodded at me then looked around the forest again.

It was silent, too silent, for an ambush of, what we figured to be, many Sableye. I clutched my stone tightly in my fist, waiting for the first strike. My heart felt like it could explode out of my chest at any moment. Fear had its strong grip on me, but I couldn't let it take me over.

The first Sableye leapt out of the tree and down at us. I threw my stone at him, and he vanished into thin air. He re-appeared next to Treeko and knocked him off his feet. The Sableye was on top of Treeko violently slashing away with his claws. I hit it over the head with a stone and it fell limply on Treeko. He shoved the body off of him and sprang to his feet again.

"Did you just kill it? I didn't feel a heart beat when I pushed it off." Treeko asked.

I leaned over the, what I hoped, passed out Sableye and felt for a pulse. Nothing. '_Oh my Arceus, I just killed a Pokemon._' I stood up straight again, but could barely keep my balance, I was too stunned at what I had done. '_Oh my...I'm a monster!_' Of course, it was just a facade, Sableye was indeed alive. It jumped to its feet again and continued slashing at Treeko.

Another Sableye launched himself down at us, and slashed at my face. Warm blood trickled down my cheek. I recoiled in pain and held my hand on the re-opened wound. I threw a stone at the Sableye, who just nimbly dodged it.

I kicked at it, but it vanished into thin air like the one before. "They're ghost types, something that resembles a normal or fighting type move won't affect them." Treeko warned me.

"I know, but I had to try something! I don't exactly have any other..." Another pair of claws raked themselves over my thighs; I shrieked in pain. Treeko also got hit on the tail and drew in a hissing breath.

I threw another stone in hopes of hitting something, but to no avail. My aim was getting worse, and Treeko had difficulty using some moves now that his tail was injured. The Sableye took advantage of our weakness and began to strike us more aggressively and frequently. 'We have to get out of here, we're getting slaughtered.'

I ran for the nearby lake in hopes of getting more stones to throw, but was knocked in by a Sableye. He crawled on my back and pulled at my hair. "Next time, listen to master Dusknoir and no one will suffer. Now, innocents lay dead, but we don't mind the killing; I'm sure you do though."

'_Who did they kill?_' More Sableye jumped on my back and held me down in the water. I struggled against their grip, but they were too strong. 'How can such tiny things have such great power?'

They forced my head under water. The one pulled my head back up by my hair again, "And now you will lay dead too. No one messes with time and gets away with it; master Dialga won't allow it."

I gasped and yelled, "We haven't done anything, honest! We haven't even found..." They pushed me back down, then pulled me back up a second later.

"You haven't even found what?" The lead Sableye pressed. I felt his sharp claws ready to dig into my head.

"I'm not telling you! I'd rather die!" I spat. I didn't mean it though. I really didn't want to die, I wanted to live, I wanted to get out of this nightmare of a life I have right now. I wished I could take back everything I said to Treeko about not caring about dying in this world.

Sableye swung around to look at me eye to eye. His gem eyes glittered maliciously as he spoke, "That can be arranged." He waved a claw at the others and I felt an awful pain run through my lower back, legs, and arms as the Sableye dug into my skin.

They pushed me back down into the water, harder this time, and my head smacked against a stone. I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. 'No, I don't want to die! I want to live!' The felling grew stronger as another wave washed over me. 'So this is what it feels like. It's awful.'

A white line zipped over my vision, and I was sent into a dream like state.

* * *

_Four Pokemon wandered through the forest together. A large four-legged one led the way for three other smaller ones who floated gleefully along behind him. He walked with such an air of dignity. He had a large silver fan on the back of his dark blue and silver body that seemed to pulse with the passing seconds._

_The three smaller ones floated along behind him while taking in the scenery of the surrounding forrest. They looked like identical triplets, small grayish-blue body with two long and skinny tails. The only main difference was their heads, one was yellow, one was pink, and one was a deep blue._

_The leading one stopped and turned to face the other three. "This is where the first Time Gear will rest. No one will stand guard over it, I trust those who live here."_

_A small gear shaped object appeared out of thin air and rested above a stone altar. The four Pokemon disappeared to another location after making sure the gear was in its proper location._

* * *

My vision returned, I was still under water, but the Sableye holding me had slackened their grip.

"R-r-run! It's going to kill us!" I heard one of them say. Its claws released me completely as it, I guessed, ran away. Another pair released soon after the first.

I was able to surface and shake another off, he ran too after letting go. Only the leader and another still clung to me for dear life.

"_Leave the forest, and never return._" said a powerful voice. I felt the last two Sableye release me and run.

"Wee-hee-hee! Let's get out of here." the leader said. He let his troops go first then turned to me, "This isn't over!" He then left in the same way as the others, sprinting for his life.

I laid back in the water and closed my eyes. '_What did I just see? It was like a vision, but what was it from?_'

I felt a clawed hand grab me and pull me out of the water. It was different from the strong and mean grip of the Sableye, it was no doubt strong, but it was gentle. "Please, help us! We meant no harm to come to this place." the voice of my rescuer shouted. It sounded a lot like Treeko, but deeper and more mature.

The powerful voice that called off the Sableye attack spoke again, "_Fine, but only because of the girl's abilities._" I saw a pink fairy appear from a glowing light that floated over the surface of the water, "I am Celebi, why have you come here?"

I passed out again before I could hear the response.


	5. Chapter 5

Pain coursed through my body. I had just woken up, and I wished I hadn't. I felt small hands on the back of my head. A cool energy pulsed through me and I began to feel better. The feeling of being hit by a Machamp was beginning to fade. More energy pulsed through me, and I only had a mild headache now.

"She should be fine for traveling after you two explain why you came here and why the Sableye were chasing you." said a petite voice from behind me.

I tried to turn to see what was behind me, but had to turn back due to pain. I pushed myself up to my feet, but, again, had to return to my original sitting position due to pain. I gripped my head with my hand.

"Woah, don't strain yourself, you got injured pretty badly. Just sit there while we talk." said a voice to my side. I felt a clawed hand grip my arm and I jerked away instinctively. "Hey, relax, it's just me, Treeko. Well, except I'm not a Treeko anymore."

I turned my head to look over at Treeko confused by what he said. Treeko was definitely not a Treeko anymore. I actually didn't know what he was. He was much taller and had a long leaf growing from his head and forearms. He was also a darker green.

His voice was deeper when he spoke, "I evolved after the battle ended with the Sableye, right before we found you in the water. The Sableye beat you up pretty badly. I was actually worried they had, um...yeah, let's not go into that."

"Ahem, we have more important things to talk about than your friend dying right now." A pink fairy fluttered out from behind me. She must have been the one who healed me.

"Are you Celebi?" I asked.

She crossed her arms, "I am, but more importantly, why are you here and why do you have the Dimensional Scream?"

I ignored her words because they confused me, "You're so tiny though. I was expecting a legendary to be, well, bigger."

She humphed and turned away from me, "Well, we're not all Dialga sized. How dare you judge, puny human." She looked back at me with a fierce glare, "Now, answer my questions or else."

I sat up a bit more and looked around trying to gather what happened. I remember the battle with the Sableye, the weird vision, and then passing out. "I'm sorry, I just woke up, can you repeat your questions please?"

Celebi, if it was possible, looked even more mad, "Ugh, this is why I hate humans, but I have to put up with you since you have the Dimensional Scream and I want to know why." She took a deep breath, "Why are you here? You're obviously not with Dialga, but this could all be a ruse to capture me."

I tried to think back to why we were here, but my mind was fuzzy. Treeko, or whatever he was now, spoke up for me, "We just wanted to see if the legends were true. If you actually existed. Well, now that we have our answer..."

"You lie!" Celebi boomed. Her eyes glowed and the area around us glowed with power. "Tell the truth"

Treeko jumped away from Celebi, "Urk, well, that's actually part of the truth. We really wanted to know if you existed, but we also wanted to ask you something. We wanted to see a sunrise or a sunset, to feel the breeze, to see a color of the sky other than gray. We realize that that reality only existed in the past, so we were wondering if you can send us back in time to see it."

Celebi looked at us accusingly, "Firstly, why would I send someone as lowly as you two back in time? Secondly, that's too far back in time, I can't make that trip alone, much less with others. We'd have to use the Passage of Time, and if we did, Dialga would come after us for making a trip without his approval. Thirdly, that's another lie, but I don't want to hear anymore of what you have to say about the matter."

Treeko looked crestfallen, "Oh, okay, I guess it's time for us to leave then. Come on Maria, I'll help you along." He came over to me and helped me up to my feet and began to lead me away.

Celebi's voice boomed again, "You two aren't leaving yet!" Treeko and I were dragged back to Celebi on our knees by her psychic powers. "I want to know how the girl has the Dimensional Scream. Tell me, and then I might allow you to leave."

I looked up at her and spoke, "Celebi, with all due respect, I have no idea what you're talking about. What's a Dimensional Scream?"

Celebi inhaled a deep breath and prepared to yell again, but let it out and looked at me as if confused, "What do you mean? You don't know what the Dimensional Scream is? I have trouble believing that."

I looked to Treeko for help, he looked back at me and shrugged. I spoke again, "We are telling the truth Celebi, you seem to be able to tell that since you didn't yell at us again. Can you please tell us what it is?"

Celebi sighed and began to speak, "The Dimensional Scream is a very special and very rare ability. It typically isn't gained naturally, it is usually gifted by a legendary Pokemon." She began to give an in depth explanation of how to get it, and which legendary Pokemon could gift it. _'Thank goodness Celebi likes to talk, I might be able to work out an escape plan.'_

I nudged Treeko and made slight motions to possible escape paths. He followed my gaze and, when I could, watched where I would point while Celebi looked away. Celebi could easily be knocked into the lake with a move by Treeko, then we could kick up some dust and run away. Another plan was to slowly back away while Celebi spoke and then take a run for it. We came up with many before Celebi looked at us with a stern look.

"Well, did you two even hear what I said? Or were you two busy planing an escape?" She smiled as we looked at her with shocked expression, "That's right, I know what you two were doing while I was talking. Nothing I said was even remotely true, I just wanted to see how you two would react." She raised her hands and two glowing orbs formed, "Well, it seems I'll have to use force to get you to tell me."

Treeko formed an energy ball and fired it to counter the ones that Celebi fired. They both charged up another and fired again. Before charging up again, he turned to me and yelled, "Maria, you have to get out of here! Run back to town!"

I stood up with difficulty, "No way, I'm not leaving you! You're my friend..."

Treeko turned and fired a shot at me, it launched me back into the cover of the trees, "Treeko, you jerk!" I yelled. I could hear the battle rage on, but I couldn't do anything about. I tried to get up, but was still hurt, and now, even more so since Treeko hit me.

Treeko ran through the cover of the trees and helped me to my feet, "We need to go, now." We ran through the forest as fast as I could manage. When we finally got a chance to stop, he gave me some oran berries to eat. They helped a little bit, but not too terribly much since I'm not a Pokemon.

Hours later, we arrived in town tired and in awful condition. We decided to stop at the edge of town to rest and clean up before heading to my house. I lied down in a patch of grass and laughed, "We are never doing something that stupid again, okay Treeko?"

He looked over at me and laughed too, "Agreed. Also, please don't call me Treeko anymore. You can call me Grovyle now that I've evolved."

I smiled, "Yeah yeah, whatever, _Grovyle_. We have more important issues than your name right now."

He scowled at me, but then looked ahead. His face scrunched and un-scrunched as he thought, "We have multiple enemies looking for us right now. We know the Sableye and Dusknoir, the Grand Elder, and now Celebi are all after us. We have an enemy in every walk of life it seems."

I had completely forgot about how many people were against us right now, _'Man, no one likes us right now it seems.'_ I pushed up onto my hands so I was in a leaning position. "Well, I wasn't exactly talking about that. I was actually talking about how you don't fit into my bag anymore."

Grovyle blinked and picked up the bag. He opened it and put it on his head, it covered his head and part of his neck. "Like you said, this doesn't exactly work."

I laughed and snatched the bag off his head. "You goof," I held the bag in my hands and looked at it. "I guess you'll just have to stay at home now, you can't come with me to school anymore."

"Well that lasted, what, a day?" he asked jokingly. "I'm sure I can follow you around if I stick to the shadows." He shrugged, "I'll figure something out." He sat down next to me.

I turned over on my side and sank down into the grass. My eyes began to close, but I resisted the urge to sleep for as long as I could. I heard snoring beside me and realized Grovyle was asleep already. Soon I followed him into sleep's embrace.

* * *

I woke up to sounds of shouting. My eyes snapped open and I bolted upright. _'What the hell is going on?'_ I saw a group of people in the middle of town gathered around something. I tried to crane my neck to see more, but it was no use.

"Come on, Grovyle, we need to get down there and see what's going on." I said as I poked him. He stirred slowly, but began to move faster when he heard the people in the town below. _'Please do not let it be what I think it is. Did those bastards actually go through with what they said and hurt someone just because we went to go find Celebi?'_

We ran down the hill and wove through the houses in town. I dodged fences and bushes, but Grovyle nimbly jumped over them._ 'He's gotten a lot stronger and nimbler since he evolved.'_ We reached the outskirts of the crowd. Grovyle jumped up to the top of a house and sat there watching as I pushed through the crowd. I could hear someone talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

I kept pushing through the crowd until I felt someone grab my arm. "It's Maria! It's the killer, I found her!"

"What?" I asked over the noise of the crowd. I felt hands grab me and push me towards the front of the mob. They pushed me in front of a pair of feet. I looked up to see who they belong to, it was the Grand Elder and Dusknoir floated beside him.

I felt the Grand Elder grab my arms and pull me up. I struggled against his grip, but it was to firm. I heard the crowd boo and hiss at me, many of them made obscene gestures at me. _'What did I just get myself into?'_

The Grand Elder held his right hand up at me, "Behold, here stands Lightner's killer." He paced in front of me. "She has the ability to speak to Pokemon and is therefore believed to be the one who ordered the Gastly to kill Lightner using its poison gas. She will stand trial in a few days..."

I tuned out the rest of his speech. I knew what had happened, he had carried out his threat that the Sableye would hurt or even kill if I didn't stay in line. '_But Gastly can't kill anyone with its poison gas, it can only knock people out._' I yelled, "But Gastly can't kill..."

"Silence!" The Grand Elder yelled. "No plea for help will be heard from you." He turned to the Sableye who were slowly approaching with a green Pokemon bound in chains. It was Grovyle. He was attempting to yell over the gag in his mouth, but it just came out as muffled yelps.

I felt the Grand Elder lead me away from the crowd who was still booing and hissing at me. They were all demanding to know where I was going, to which the Grand Elder responded, "The murderer and her accomplice will be held in a secure cell in what is the ruins of Temporal Tower. Dusknoir here ensures that no one can escape under the close watch of his Pokemon guards. They will stand trial in a few days time in the court that the other elders and I will be the judges for."

The small and clawed hands of the Sableye grabbed my arms and led me down from the stage. Once we were away from the crowds I felt them put handcuffs on me and then they pushed me down to the ground beside Grovyle. He looked at me apologetically.

The Grand Elder rejoined us after the shouting from the crowds died down. He looked down at me, "You know, you really need to start listening to your superiors. I told you to not go searching for Celebi, I knew what would happen if you did. She attacked you, didn't she?"

I didn't look up at him as I responded, "How did you know? Did your little spies tell you?"

"Actually, for once, no, they did not tell me. I knew Celebi would attack you because your partner here is a lying little brat." He motioned to Grovyle. "What did he tell you as his reason to go find Celebi? Something about 'seeing what the world was like when time flowed?'"

"You've been spying on us, you bastard! Stop lying about your stupid Pokemon spies. I know it was the Litwick in the library, the Poochyena at school, and all the Pokemon we came across in the forest. They were all there to spy on us, or Treeko at the time, but now me too. Why do you care about us so much?" I was so mad at that point that I started to cry.

The Sableye around us wee-hee-heed and the Grand Elder and Dusknoir laughed at me. He spoke through his laughter, "Maybe your partner will finally tell you the truth before we kill him. Oh Maria, you are such a naïve little child." He made a circular motion with his hand. "Prepare to shadow travel."

I felt the Sabeleye grab me again as the world around me fell away into the shadows.


	6. Chapter 6

The world reemerged from the shadows around me. I keeled over with dizziness. Shadow travel is not meant for humans. I heard the Sableye chatter around me with confusion.

"Where are we?"

"This isn't where we're supposed to be."

"How did we end up here?"

The problem was obvious to me in the blink of an eye. The Sableye had been traveling through the shadows, and this is where the shadows ended for a small stretch. I felt the Sableye shove me forwards into the light and towards where the shadows began again.

"Wait! Something isn't right about this. Why do the shadows stop here, they've never stopped here before." Dusknoir questioned. He floated around trying to find a source of light. After a short amount of time, he returned to the group and gave the signal to move on.

"We can come back to investigate later, we have more important business to attend to." The Grand Elder said.

The Sableye pushed me forwards again into the shadows. Once again, the world shrank away.

* * *

I didn't remember reemerging from the shadows the second time. I had passed out the second we came out. When I came around, I was already locked up in a jail cell. There was a mat on the floor for me that they had set me on. I sat up and looked around. The place was pretty nondescript. The walls were gray rock that had been cut away to form a room and the door was brown wood with a barred window near the top. Not a lot of effort had been put into this place.

I stood up slowly trying to not hurl, the effects of shadow travel had not faded yet. I held my head in my hand and made my way slowly towards the door. I stumbled to the wall and put my other hand on it as a guide. I shuffled along towards the door. I grabbed the bars and peered out into the hallway.

It was the same dull gray as the cell, with many more doors to match mine. I saw a Sableye wander past. He noticed me and jumped, then ran back the way he came. '_Great, he's probably going to get somebody._'

Sure enough, a short amount of time later, he returned with a rope, a Machamp, and some keys. He opened the door, tied my hands together, and led me down the hallway into the unknown. My heart raced as we walked, I could hear moaning and crying from the other cells. '_This is bad, this is very bad, I have to get out of here._'

There were no ways out of this that I could see. I could always try to make a break for it, but Machamp would stop me, that and there were shadows all around. I could maybe outsmart them, but I highly doubted that, they'd be expecting something like that. Maybe I could steal the keys from the Sableye and try to find the exit, but he or Machamp would notice and I would have no idea where I'm going. '_I'll just stick it out until a better way presents itself._'

We were walking through a wide open expanse now. I could see the sky and all its gray darkness, somehow it looked darker today though. I looked around the area as we walked from one end to the other. Pillars stood all around us with three standing taller than the others in the center. The feel of the air just gave off a sense of terror and dread, like something bad was about to happen. The dark red splotches splattered on and around the pillars didn't help the mood either. '_Arceus, I hope that's not blood_.'

We entered another corridor on the other side of the courtyard. '_More dark hallways, woohoo._' We walked along silently until Sableye spoke, "Feeling scared yet?"

I just glared down at him in response. I kicked at him, but he just wooshed away. "Wee-hee-hee, foolish human, you can't hurt a ghost like that."

"This place is interesting, mind telling me where I am?" I asked. '_Maybe I can find out something._'

The ghost just laughed his dumb laugh again, "No way, I'm not falling for such a dumb trick." We stopped before another brown and barred door, "Oh look, we're here."

I was pushed inside by Machamp after Sableye had opened the door. They sat me down in a chair at a table in the middle of the room. Across from me sat another chair, waiting to be filled by someone.

A while later, the door swung open with a creaking sound, and in walked the Grand Elder and Dusknoir. "Who else would I expect besides you two?"

They looked down at me, "Child, you really have no idea the trouble you're in, do you?"

"I don't exactly know what I've done that could have been so bad that I'm now locked up in jail. Mind filling me in on what's going on?" I retorted. The Grand Elder sat down across from me.

Dusknoir spoke now, "You honestly have no idea what's going on, do you? Do you know anything of Grovyle's life before he found you? Anything at all?"

I tried to recall anything he said, "He said he trained under you. He heard an interesting rumor about the Time Gears and Celebi. He wanted to investigate so he came to the human village to find some more information." '_He never told me much now that I think of it. I just blindly trusted him because I was bored and thought an adventure sounded fun.'_

Dusknoir crossed his arms, "Oh, is that's the story he went with? Did he mention living in the woods with other Pokemon? Nothing about a secret gang trying to undermine society as we know it? Not even their grand plot of trying destroy the world?"

I leaned back, I didn't realize that I had been sitting up until now, "No, I don't believe so, but why would I tell you if he did?" I shifted around uncomfortably in my chair.

The Grand Elder spoke now, "You should tell us because we plan to let you go. We don't want to harm an innocent and naïve girl who got into an issue that's way over her head. We want to know what you know, then we plan to wipe your memories of these events and let you go free. Just, please tell us what you know."

"Well what if I don't want to forget? What if I've enjoyed actually having a friend who was actually nice to me and trusted me from the get go? What if I enjoyed seeing Celebi? I know these events also brought pain, but I don't want to forget, they've been the most exciting thing that's happened to me."

Dusknoir slammed his hands down on the table, "You don't even know the history behind these events. You don't know anything about Grovyle, or what he's planning, or what his true motives are. You. Know. Nothing!"

I felt hot tears in my eyes, "That's not true!" Tears started flowing, "I know a lot more than when I started. I know that Pokemon and humans form bonds extremely quickly. I know that Time Gears kept time flowing until they mysterious stopped one day. I know Temporal Tower collapsed as a result of time stopping! I might not know what you think I should, but I know enough to know I'm on the right side and you're on the wrong side!" I was yelling at this point. Anger over what happened at the lake and what happened to Lightner all exploded in that moment.

Dusknoir turned away from me, "We should just kill you and get this over with."

The Grand Elder held up his hand, "No! We cannot harm her, Master Dialga commanded us not to. If you think her so dumb and clueless over the true events going on, let her speak to her partner and find out the truth. Then we can clarify his biased knowledge with truth."

Sableye claws grabbed me again. "So, what are we doing with her, the stockades or taking her to Grovyle?"

Dusknoir was silent for a while, "Fine, do what the human says, take her to see Grovyle." He waved the Sableye off. I breathed a sigh of relief.

They escorted me out the door and into the hallway again.

* * *

More confusing twists and turns later, we arrived outside of a heavily guarded cell. The Sableye unlocked and opened the door. He undid my ropes and let me in. A green Pokemon was laying on the floor. It was Grovyle. He was still tied up, but not gagged anymore. I noticed he was sleeping, so I tread lightly up to him.

His eyes snapped open and he jumped up, "What more do you want with me?" He realized it was me and recoiled with surprise. He was badly beat up. His right eye was swollen shut, the leaf on his head was cut and torn up in many different spots, and he had dozens of bruises and cuts all over.

"They beat information out of you, didn't they?" I asked quietly.

He looked away from me, "They tried." There was a heavy silence, "So, why and how are you in here?"

I took a breath and explained what happened earlier to me. We had sat down sometime during my explanation. I undid some of the ropes on him, despite being told not to numerous times by the Sableye outside.

"Oh," he paused while rubbing his newly freed wrists, "I'm sorry I got you into all of this. It's my fault you're here."

I shook my head, "Don't be sorry for my actions and choices. I chose to help you, and now I'm paying for it."

He looked at me with sad eyes, "Aren't you scared?"

I nodded, "I'm absolutely terrified, but I've never done anything this exciting and different before. I wanted to do something with my life. So when you came along, I decided to help you. I was especially interested after learning about the Time Gears. I feel like I'm actually living now and not just surviving."

Grovyle shook his head, "You are such an idiot, you know that, right?"

I laughed, "I've been told a few times and in a few different ways." I reached up to his head, grabbed his leaf, and yanked it towards me. "Now, I'm only not going to regret helping you if you tell me the truth. Why were you really looking for information about the Time Gears? Were you really in a gang of Pokemon? Why are the Sableye and Dusknoir really after you?"

Grovyle gulped, "Urk, you really want to know? I don't know if you're going to take well to any of it."

My anger was rising, I had been kept in the dark too long. "Tell me, now."

Grovyle nodded, "You got it, but can you please let go of me first? You're really beginning to hurt me."

I released my hold on him. He massaged his leaf back to it's normal position and began to talk, "Well, it started when I was young. I was born and raised in Pokemon society. I was trained under Dusknoir to become on of his henchmen, just like the Sableye are right now. They figured no one would suspect a small innocent looking Treeko to be a merciless killer. I hated being there, it was misery to live like that, I didn't want to become what they were.

"I started to hear talk and rumors of why the world is like it is. Something about Temporal Tower, the Time Gears, and Primal Dialga. I wanted to find out for myself. I snuck into the records room where any sensitive information is kept. I searched and searched only finding little bits of information. Eventually, I came across something good in an old scroll, but was caught by Dusknoir before I could really find anything. He scolded me and told me to never search for anything on the subject again.

"Training went on like normal for a while after that. I had gotten pretty strong, but was still the weakest of the group. During a training battle one day, the alarm Chimecho started going off. Everyone immediately rushed to their battle stations since we were informed of intruders. Well, everyone except for me. I ran in the other direction, I knew I could get in the records room and find the scrolls with the information on the Time Gears since no one would be watching the room.

"I found the scroll I needed and ran back to towards my room. I was about half way there with the scroll, when I collided with another Pokemon. It was a Snivy with a dark green and black scarf around its neck. She yelled for me to get out of her way. I scurried off to the side, but that didn't satisfy her. She asked for me to hand over the scroll. I refused and she attacked. Her tail became like a razor and sliced at me. I jumped out of the way before the attack hit. I charged up an energy ball then fired it at her. She dodged the attack just as easily as I did.

"We kept volleying attacks back and forth along with our snide comments for each other. Stuff like, 'Not bad for an amateur.' or 'Try again!' It went on for a while before she got the better of me. She took the scroll and left just as quickly as she came. I was pissed. I ran after her into the thick of battle. Through the fighting, I would occasionally see her tail flicking through the crowd. I followed in hot pursuit."

I groaned, "Not that your story isn't interesting, but where is the point? I'm getting bored."

Grovyle glared at me, "I'm getting there. No wonder why your teachers didn't like you. Anyways, because you want me to hurry it up, the invaders lost and were forced to retreat. I followed Snivy into the woods. I followed them all the way to their camp and tried to steal the scroll back. They caught me, interrogated me, and then held me in their camp until they deemed me innocent and allowed me to go. I had some questions for them first though. I wanted to know why they attacked and why they wanted the scroll. They told me that if I knew, I could never leave and go back to where I came from, I either had to join them or die.

"This was a tough choice to make, abandon the only life I knew but resented, or gain information about what was really going on and give up everything." He put his head in him hands, "I have no idea why they accepted me, or even why I made that choice. Maybe one of their psychics saw that my intentions were good and knew it was okay to trust me; that I wasn't really on anyone's side."

He looked at me and realized he was getting off track. "Sorry, this is the point where I explain how I got to you. They took me in and taught me in their ways. They explained that they think they had figured out a way to restore time's flow. They think that the Time Gears were only supposed to work for a small amount of time. Well, a small amount temporal wise is thousands of years. After they began to stop allowing time to flow, they were to be taken to Dialga to be fixed or something. The documents that I had unknowingly helped steal told the legend of the Time Gears. The group was right for the most part, only a few of their details were out of place.

"Unfortunately, they told of no way to get back in time to when everything started stopping, or where the Time Gears even are or were. We had no idea what to do from that point on until we figured out that you humans had the rest of the information we needed. I was chosen to lead a group of Pokemon to go into your village and take the necessary documents.

"We were on our way to the village when we were attacked by the Sableye." He had to pause for a second to hold back tears, "I lost Snivy, the same Snivy I fought with when first joining. I had grown to love her over the year or so that I had been there. I was the only one not killed in the battle, but I was badly injured. The Sableye figured I'd just die out there, and while I was out there, I thought that too.

"Lightner, the same one that helped us find the information on Time Gears, found me and helped me. I explained to her what had happened and she took pity on me. She said I could find what I needed in town and pointed me in the direction I needed to go. Then I found, what this human girl I met called, a school and the rest is history."

I nodded while thinking over everything I had been told today. 'Which one would Grovyle actually do, destroy or save the world?' "I believe you and want to help you, but that doesn't do much good for us right now, we're still trapped here."

"Not for long. We stopped shadow traveling for a reason. I think the Forest's Shadow is behind it."

"That doesn't make any sense, if there were shadows, then why did we stop?"

"Oh, right, the group I'm a part of is called the Forest's Shadow since we live in the shadows of the forest. I forgot I skipped over that because someone rushed me through my story." He looked at me accusingly.

"Oh shut it," I laughed as I rolled my eyes. "So if you guys are trying to save the world, then why did Dusknoir and the Grand Elder say you wanted to destroy it? Were they just playing me?"

Grovyle sighed, "I guess I forgot that part too. We really are working towards saving the world and restoring time, but there's a catch to us restoring time. The Time Gears are useless after time stops. We would have to go back in time and move the Time Gears to Temporal Tower before time stops which means changing history."

I tilted my head to the right, "I don't think I understand how that ties in, can you explain more?"

He sighed, "If time were to be fixed before it ever stopped, this frozen planet would never exist, we would change history so this never existed. Everything we know, this whole world, even we will cease to exist."

I sat there frozen, I finally understood what Dusknoir meant about Grovyle trying to destroy the world. '_It's the right thing to do though, isn't it? But it's a complete suicide mission, and not just suicide, it'd be genocide. Nothing is right in the situation. You just can't win here.'_

I opened my mouth to speak again, but the door creaked open behind me. "It's time to go human, you two have had plenty of time to talk."

I stood up and began to walk towards the door. I turned back to look at Grovyle; the Sableye had already begun to re-tie the ropes, "I'll help your guys' cause when we get out of here." I saw him smile at me and nod.

I turned and walked out the door with my Sableye escort.


	7. Chapter 7

After another long session of questioning from the Grand Elder and Dusknoir later, I was finally allowed to go back to my room. They kept trying to convince me that Grovyle only told lies, but something inside of me told me not to trust them. They talked of how the world had always been dark and gloomy, but I had seen what it was really like once upon a time in that weird vision. They said to erase this dark world would be to erase the whole world. I went along with what they said, but inside, I knew the truth; or, at least I hoped I did.

After they were through with me, they had a Sableye escort me back to my cell. The place was still as creepy as ever even though I knew they would let me go soon enough. Sableye opened the door for me and let me walk inside. I glared down at him as he closed the door. The place was still dark and gloomy. I sat on the mat on the floor that acted as my bed and thought.

_'The Grand Elder and Dusknoir talked of how the world was always like this, but they don't really mean it. Maybe they're just scared of disappearing. Then again, I don't really want to disappear either, but it's the right thing, right?'_

I laid on my back at stared up at the jagged stone ceiling. Water dripped down from one of the jagged edges. It landed on my face and made me blink. _'The only way to change to world to its original state would be to get rid of all of this, right?'_ I put my hands on my face to rub the water away, "Ugh, this is all so messed up! Why did I have to get myself into this? I can't just turn my back on saving the world, but I can't just go and change it and kill everyone either."

A banging noise was made on my door, "Keep it down in there, will ya!"

I rolled away from the door and onto my side. '_What if Grovyle is lying again though, he wasn't exactly honest when i first met him. What if the Grand Elder and Dusknoir are lying though? Ugh, I already went through this, but it's stills nagging me.'_

Thoughts as to what's real and what's fake ran through my head for the rest of the night. I eventually feel asleep mid-thought.

* * *

I woke up to more banging on my door. "Get up, human!"

I sat up slowly and rubbed my eyes. _'Stupid morning; I'm still tired, go away.'_ I got up to my feet, ran through my hair with my finger, and straightened out my clothing.

I began walking towards the door again when someone started banging on the door, "This is the last time, get up!"

I groaned, "I'm coming, I'm coming, be patient for once in your stupid life." The door swung open and five Sableye walked in. One of them took the rope they were holding and tied it around my hands behind my back.

They pushed me out into the hallway and led my down the corridor. I heard one of the Sableye ask, "My life isn't stupid, is it?" I smiled at the fact that, for once, I had gotten under its skin. It wasn't a huge victory, but it was good enough for me in this dreary place. We continued our walk down the corridor and outside into the courtyard.

A cluster of Sableye were standing outside in the courtyard. They were snickering and talking about something that seemed to please them. They immediately stopped when they spotted me. I felt their gem-like eyes boring into me. I shifted my hands around in the ropes out of awkwardness. One of them put its hand on my right arm and escorted me to the middle of the courtyard where the three columns stood. My heart pounded since I could guess what came next.

We waited there until the doors on the side of the courtyard opposite to where my cell was flew open. Out marched the Grand Elder and a Hypno. I realized why the Hypno was here, _'They're going to force me to forget all of this.'_ My heart sank slightly; even though things looked bad now, I had had this feeling that we were going to escape, but now everything looked bleak once again.

The Grand Elder walked over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. Hypno waited patiently beside him. I glared at them both as he spoke, "Child, this is what must be done. Do not feel too distraught though, this is not the first time something like this has happened."

I asked, "And how is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"It's just to let you know that this is not a huge event with many consequences for you. It's happened before and all others like you have survived and lived normal lives." He paced around a little bit before going over to to Sableye to say a few words.

I tried to comfort myself whilst they talked, _'See, this isn't too bad, others have survived, I'm going to get out of here and live a normal life.'_ I looked up to the sky where the usual gray clouds hung. I could see three flying types circling over head. _'But is this like every other time? I feel different somehow, like I'm the one special case that doesn't make it out okay.'_ I shrugged off that feeling though,_ 'I bet everyone feels that way.'_

The same doors that the Grand Elder had emerged from earlier once again flew open. Dusknoir and a hoard of Sableye marched out. I noticed something stark green in the center of the group. Grovyle was instantly recognizable and stuck out of the group like a sore thumb. I noticed he was tied up and once again gagged. Dusknoir's arm looked like it had bit marks on it, so I assumed it was Grovyle's doing.

The Grand Elder turned to me as Dusknoir, the Sableye, and Grovyle drew nearer and nearer. He said, "We figured we'd let you two have one final word with each other before you two go your separate ways. Might want to make it some special words since they will be the last friendly ones your partner hears in the world."

I walked forwards to meet Grovyle. As they walked closer, I saw a sudden jerk of green and many Sableye fell to the ground. Grovyle slashed through his ropes easily with the sharp leaves on his wrists. He leapt at Dusknoir who blocked his attack then knocked him onto his back. Grovyle got up again and attacked using, what I assumed to be, leaf blade. He got a hit on Dusknoir, but was knocked back again. This time Sableye tackled him to the ground and pinned him down.

I ran over to the fight and tried to pry the Sableye off of Grovyle. Once they realized who I was, they got off, but they still seemed unwilling to give up their prey to me. Grovyle leapt up and drew his arm back preparing to use leaf blade again. His eyes were like untamed fire; like a ferrel Pokemon. He swung, only to stop inches from my face. He was panting heavily now as he looked at me confused. "Maria?" He breathed.

I stood there paralyzed, only inches from what would be a deadly hit if it were to land. His leaves stopped glowing and he dropped his arm like it were dead weight. I finally let out the fear that had been building up inside of me for the past weak or so by crying. I tried to wipe the tears from my face, but it was hard with bound hands; that and the tears wouldn't stop flowing.

Grovyle spoke, "Stop, let me help you." He sliced the ropes off with a quick flick of his leaf blade attack.

I sank to my knees and threw my arms around him. My body shuddered with fear, frustration, and sadness. "I'm so sorry this is how it ends for you. I'm sorry I got you caught. I'm..."

He cut me off, "No, I'm responsible for my own actions. I got myself caught. Do not, whatever you do, do not blame yourself for someone else's actions. Please remember that for the rest of your life."

That broke my heart even more, _'I'm not going to remember any of this. I want to tell him, but it will break him even more.'_ I put on a fake smile and nodded through the tears. I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I will."

He shook his head, "You don't mean that, you're a bad liar, but that's okay, you're a better being than I am for that. Even if our time together was short, I will never forget you. You were one of the best partners I've ever had, Maria, even if we only briefly knew each other."

I nodded, "Same to you, Grovyle." I whispered into his ear, "There's a rescue, isn't there?" I was genuinely curious since he mentioned something about a potential rescue the other day.

He whispered back, "You'll just have to wait and see." He smiled at me then walked away.

I turned and walked back towards the Grand Elder and his gang of Sableye. The lead Sableye had a rope and tied my hands together with it again. The Grand Elder put his hand on my shoulder and led me inside. The Sableye and Hypno followed us. I turned and craned my neck to see what was happening to my partner. I saw the Sableye being directed by Dusknoir to tie Grovyle to the middle column. They did so roughly, then unsheathed their claws and advanced intimidatingly on Grovyle.

I jerked my shoulder to throw the Grand Elder off and to turn around and look at Grovyle one last time. "No!" I shouted. His eyes were filled with terror as the Sableye advanced. My escorts pushed me inside and slammed the door in my face. I started crying again since I knew what fate followed Grovyle after those doors shut.

I was led back to my cell. I was pushed inside and forced to sit on the ground. The Grand Elder began to explain, "Hypno here will send you into a dream like trance where he will be able to go into you memories and use dream eater to eat the away as if they were normal dreams. The process is not painful what-so-ever, but it will have a heavy toll on your body. You will wake up exhausted and with a sense that something is missing in your life.

"You will be returned home, everyone has already heard you were cleared of all charges relating to Lightner's death and they know not to talk about it around you. They were told that it is a 'very sensitive topic' for you to talk about and will not for your sake."

I didn't care what happened anymore though. There was no rescue, there was no escape, and there was no hope. He signaled for Sableye to grab me so I would not get away and so Hypno could do his work. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, then opened them to Hypno's. He started using hypnosis and I began to feel dreary. My eyes fluttered shut and I was almost asleep. That's when things took a strange turn.

Hypno, very quickly, charged up two shadow ball attacks and fired them at the Sableye. One narrowly avoided the hit and leaped at Hypno. Hypno kicked at it, but it just evaporated into thin air. Hypno used this time to charge up another shadow ball attack. He fire it once Sableye reappeared.

Hypno then turned on the Grand Elder and used hypnosis. The Grand Elder didn't have time to react out of shock. He sank to his knees and was asleep in an instant. Hypno then turned to me, "I assume you're my rescue. Nice timing," I smirked. Hope flooded back into me when he nodded. He removed the ropes and helped me to my feet.

Hypno then turned away from me. He snatched the keys from the Grand Elder and opened the door for us. Once we were both out in the corridor, he re-locked the door and began to walk towards the outside. "Follow me, our way out is outside." He began to run ahead and I followed.

He threw open the doors to the courtyard with a psychic blast. We stopped abruptly when we got outside. Sableye lay scattered everywhere knocked out and bloodied from the battled that raged on. Flying type Pokemon swooped from the sky, dive bombing the last few Sableye that remained conscious. Grovyle fought in one-on-one combat with Dusknoir. They both had extremely bad wounds, but yet they continued to fight.

I began to run ahead to the thick of the battle, but I fell to my hands and knees. '_What's wrong? Am I just now being effected by Hypno's hypnosis attack? But I was almost asleep earlier, are the effects different because I stayed awake?'_ A flying type swooped down to me and an Audino jumped off. She ran over to me and handed me a chesto berry, "Here, Hypno told me to give you this if you felt drowsy. You'll wake right up."

I ate the berry. The second I swallowed it, I no longer felt drowsy. I hopped up to my feet with new energy. Audino led me over to the Brivary she had jumped off of and helped me on. I noticed that both Brivary and Audino wore green bands; Audino wore it on her arm, and Brivary wore it around his neck as a scarf. _'Didn't Grovyle mention something about that before?_'

"Put your hands here." Audino placed my hands on Brivary's neck and told me to grip the feathers. I did as told out of fear of falling off.

"Hold on tight, we're taking off." Brivary said. He beat his wings powerfully to take off. I could feel his muscles moving as he flapped his wings. As we rose into the sky, my fear level rose too. _'I think I'm gonna barf._' It was in that instant that I realized I hated flying.

We circled around the courtyard hundreds of feet below us. I forced myself to look down at the raging battle. All of the Sableye had been taken out and the only two combatants left standing were Grovyle and Dusknoir. I saw them exchanging blows. Grovyle used leaf blade, and Dusknoir shadow ball. Both dodged each other's attacks. An energy ball and another shadow ball collided causing a smoky explosion. Grovyle used this to turn and flee.

He ran out from the smoke, and towards the three columns. He leapt off of one and onto the back of a Staravia who had been expecting him. They swooped up to meet us in the air. "Told you there was a rescue plan." he smirked.

A Talonflame that carried Hypno and Audino rose up to meet us too. More Pokemon rushed into the courtyard as backup for the fainted fighters. Dusknoir shouted something up at us as he shook his fist, but we were too high up to hear exactly what he was saying. The three birds nodded at each other that it was okay to continue onto our destination.


	8. Chapter 8

We landed on the ground in, what felt like, an eternity later. I anxiously awaited the three birds to completely land so I could jump off. Once on the ground, I laid down on my back and took a deep breath. The grass smelled fresh and it tickled my face and arms. I wanted to lay there for the rest of my life and forget about the fact that I had just escaped from prison.

Grovyle jumped off of Staravia's back and landed hard on the ground. He winced with pain and fell to his knees. I noticed he was cradling his arms in a strange way, almost like he was hiding something. He struggled to stand back up, "Uff, Audino, I need help here!"

Audino, who had been unpacking her bag that was strapped to Brivary, rushed over to Grovyle. She threw opened her bag and rustled around trying to find something to help him. She produced two oran berries and a sitrus berry, then ran them over to Grovyle. "Here, these should restore some health; you'll be better soon enough."

In between taking bites of berries, Grovyle said, "I now understand why flying type attacks are strong against grass types. I felt like I was getting torn up and whipped around up there."

"Ah yes, because flying was worse than the battle you were just in." I said sarcastically.

"No, not nearly that bad. That wasn't even as bad as the execution." He shuddered, "I never want to go through something like that again."

_'Note to self, sarcasm goes over this guy's head; maybe work on that with him._'

Talonflame, who had been keeping watch over head for us, swooped down to meet the group. "We might want to get going soon, I saw some suspicious activity in the shadows a little ways away from here." He reported.

I dragged myself to my feet. I longed to lay on the ground and look up at the frozen gray clouds forever at that moment. I made my way over to Brivary and climbed on. I looked over at the others. Audino and Hypno returned to their birds without any trouble, but Grovyle struggled to climb on. Hypno gave him a little nudge with his psychic powers. Grovyle nodded thanks at Hypno once he had climbed on.

I held on with my life as we rose into the sky once again. '_I still hate flying!'_

* * *

A stretch of time later, and we were on the ground again. I once again scrambled to the ground. "Shadow travel is better than flying any day." I said. Even if it made me sick, I definitely preferred shadow travel to flying.

"Humans aren't meant to shadow travel." Hypno commented.

"We aren't meant to fly either!" I responded back loudly. I laid back on the ground again and looked up at the sky. There wasn't any grass here, only cold hard ground beneath me.

Hypno shrugged, "That is true, I guess." He looked around then said, "We need to get moving."

I got back up to my feet and took a look around me. We were in a clearing in the middle of a dead forest. The trees were all dead and rotten. The ground was bare of any life and the bushes were but skeletons. Something seemed to leaped between the shadows. _'I hope that's not them._'

The three birds decided to watch us from over head. They stayed low enough that they could keep us in their sights. We began our trek through the woods. Audino had informed us that we had been dropped off a few miles away from camp. She explained it was so the Sableye didn't know exactly where it was. The ground had gotten a bit sloppier as we made out way. Mud caked the bottom of my shoes and my ankles.

I stuck next to Grovyle as we walked. "So, has that ever happened to you before?" I asked.

"Not to me, but it has happened to others. We're scarce on members right now, so that's why the rescued me. That, and I have valuable information that the group needs? I would have been left for dead had it been any other time and under any different conditions." He said. He sounded like he didn't want to talk about it too much.

"Did they hurt you at all?" I asked.

He lowered his arms that he had been keeping crossed. He had a gash that stretched the width of his body. "I'm keeping it from Audino so she doesn't freak out. She goes crazy when she sees someone hurt and tries to help them to the fullest extent. That's great and all, but I just need a simple bandage."

He raised his arms once more to hide as Audino turned around. She did a head count to make sure no one had gotten separated from the group. "You really need help for that wound, it's dangerous to leave something that bad open for this long." I hissed at him.

He held up his hand, "It's not open, it closed a little bit because of the berries she gave me earlier. I can hold off until we arrive."

I let the subject go and the group trudged on in silence. The swamp ended and we came to an area where small clumps of grass grew. Some of the trees and bushes also had leaves on them. '_Weird, I thought everything was dead.'_ I tried to think of a reason for the odd splashes of life in the flora. Then it struck me, '_It was like this in the area Celebi dwelled. I didn't pay attention to it then, but I notice now. Why is that? It was also like that where we landed, why are some areas full of life and others aren't?'_

"We're here!" Audino cheered, "Maria, you need to stick close to us or the Pokemon here might think you're hostile. Most of them haven't ever seen a human." She walked ahead and pushed aside some of the brush opening up a passage that lead under the willow tree.

The three birds that flew us out landed in the giant tree just ahead. They disappeared into the leaves. Hypno walked ahead of us taking the lead, then I went, Grovyle followed me, and finally Audino.

I was not prepared for what was beyond the brush. A whole village seemed to sprawl out beneath the strong branches of the tree. Tents and small carts were scattered throughout the area. Bird Pokemon jumped from branch to branch above head. Staircases leading down under the ground were placed in various areas too. I stood there in awe of the place.

"Maria, don't get too far away from us!" Audino shouted. She was already half way to the base of the tree.

Grovyle came up behind me, "See what I said about her being protective? Just stick with me, I'll get you to where we're going and keep you from getting lost." He guided me down the center of town.

I looked at the little stands peppered around as we walked. Many of them sold berries and useful items, but there were the occasional rare goods shops. I wanted to stop and look at them, but Grovyle made me keep going. We continued on until we got to a staircase heading underground.

"Uh, no way am I going down there." I said. I planted my feet firm on the ground and refused to move. '_It looks gross and dark down there, not to mention extremely small.'_

Grovyle, who was already down the first few steps, turned to look at me, "Maria, we have to, we need to go meet up with the rest of our group, now!" I saw him hold his hand to his chest then pull it away again to look at it. It was covered in blood. He tried to go down the steps, but stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Grovyle, I told you that you needed to talk to Audino about that. We need to get you to her now." I picked up the wood-gecko and rushed down the stairs. As much as I didn't like it, I knew that I had to to save my friend. The air grew stale the further into the we went.

"Maria, I'm fine." he said faintly.

"Oh Arceus, where's a medic?" I wondered out loud, "I need help over here!" I shouted. Pokemon wandered past me while giving me weird looks.

"Is that a human?"

"What happened to Grovyle?"

"Why is a human here?"

I shoved past them looking around frantically for help. I heard a grunt from Grovyle, "Uhn, Take the next left, and go down the stairs. Audino should be there with the others."

I followed orders. I whipped around the turn, flew down the steps, and burst through a curtain into a meeting. Five Pokemon were gathered around a table, they all snapped their heads to me when I came in.

Audino realized what had happened and came over to me. "Follow me, darling." She moved to a doorway to the left of the meeting room. She waved her hand to follow. The other four Pokemon made a path for me to get over to Audino. I nodded at them in thanks and made my way.

The next room seemed to be a medical room. Various bandages lined the shelves along with berries. There were some man made remedies made for Pokemon such as potions and various types of heals. _'I didn't think those were made any more.'_

Audino cleared off a table for me to set Grovyle on. I laid the Pokemon down and took a few steps back to make room for Audino to do her work. She hurried around the room grabbing bandages, berries, and other things to help Grovyle.

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked.

Audino talked as she worked, "He'll be just fine; between a few berries and healing moves he'll recover very soon. If you'd be a dear, can you please head back into the other room and talk with the Council, that'd be lovely."

I kept my eyes on Grovyle as I bowed out of the room. I trusted Audino that he'd be alright, but I couldn't help but worry about one of my only friends. "Arceus, please let him be alright." I prayed.

I walked back into the meeting room. The gathered Pokemon had re-begun their discussion, but stopped when I came back in.

An Akakazam asked, "Is he going to be alright?"

I nodded as I gulped, I was nervous to be talking to such a powerful group. A Tyranitar, Alakazam, Charizard, and a Zoroark were gathered around the table. I saw Alakazam sigh with relief, "Thank goodness, we need the information he obtained from the human village." He waved his hand at me, "You may go now."

I turned to leave, ignoring the fact they had just said that my friend's only use to them was for information. Before leaving, I turned back to them, "Can I ask one more question before I go, please?"

Alakazam raised his eyebrow at me, "I don't know, _can_ you?"

I rolled my eyes, '_Great, there are even Pokemon that do this?'_ Mrs. Darkheart would always pull that on me when in school. _'Wow, that seems to be a million miles away right now.'_

I sighed and asked again, "_May_ I ask a question before I go?"

Alakazam chucked, "Sorry, I was just kidding about the whole may verses can thing. It's always so much fun to pull on newbies." The rest of the group groaned at Alakazam's joke, apparently this was only one of many times.

"Where exactly am I and who exactly are you guys?" I asked.

Charizard spoke up this time, "That's two questions, but we will answer both, assuming Alakazam finds you alright."

Alakazam said, "I already check out Maria's memories, she's alright, there was no memories or relations to Dialga's armies except for her being held in jail recently by his forces."

I patted my head and wondered, '_How did he check my memories and how did he do it so fast?'_

Alakazam chuckled, "I am a master psychic, darling, it's not that hard to scan someone's mind who is not guarded what-so-ever."

I recoiled in surprise, "Stop that, it's freaky. If I check out alright then get on with explanation so I can leave your range of psychicness." I waved my hands as if trying to perform a magic trick with my mind.

Zoroark held up her hand, "Wait, how are you able to understand us? I think that's something that needs to be addressed." She got right up in my face, "You're not working with the Sableye to deceive us all, are you?"

I drew back a little bit, "I, uh, no, I'm..."

Alakazam pulled Zoroark back with telekinesis, "Zoroark, please, I scanned her memories and she's not working with the Sableye. I discovered she has the rare ability to communicate with our kind."

Zoroark snarled at me, "I have to trust Alakazam, but one wrong move and," she drew a sharp claw across her throat. Blood gushed out of the wound and she fell to the ground dead.

The sight alarmed me, I was frozen in fear for a few seconds. I snapped back to my senses and screamed, "Medic! We need help in here!" I sunk to my knees and tried to get Zoroark to stand up. '_Wait, something's off about this. Didn't we learn about Zoroark's using illusions in school?'_ I closed my eyes and opened them after a few seconds. Zoroark was just fine and towering over me. I had guessed correctly, I was freaking out over nothing, Zoroark had just used an illusion to confuse me. I felt like a complete idiot.

She smiled at me, "Okay, you showed concern for me without knowing much about any of us. Between that and Alakazam's scan, you can't be bad." She hissed at me one more time for good measure though, "Just one wrong move though, and you'll be lying on the ground for real."

I gulped and nodded at the dark type. '_Note to self, don't cross Zoroark.'_

Audino rushed in, "What happened, someone called for a medic?" She looked flustered and was holding bandages and berries.

Zoroark answered, "Everything is okay, I was just using an illusion to test the human's true intentions."

Audino looked pissed, "Zoroark, that's not cool. I know you think it's funny, but it's annoying when you make it a gory illusion then your victim calls me or one of my people for help."

Zoroark sighed, "Fine, fine, fine, I'll stop making gory illusions."

Audino grumbled as she walked back to the medical bay, "Yeah, that's what you said last time too."

Tyranitar responded this time, "Alright, it's time to get back to her question so we can finish the meeting. We are known as the Forest's Shadow, we work to return the world back to its original condition of a realm where time flows."

Charizard continued, "We are the council of the Shadow, a group of five Pokemon, Audino being the fifth but she's a bit occupied right now. We lead the rest of the Forest's Shadow if anything bad or catastrophic would happen."

Alakazam continued, "We are currently gathering information of Time Gears, artifacts that were said to keep time going, but stopped for some reason. We figured that if we could get the Time Gears flowing again, we could start time again."

Zoroark finished the explanation, "The catch of getting time to flow again is that we would have to change history to re-start, or really at that point, keep time flowing. To change the past would get rid of the future, or the current present. To get rid of the future would kill us all and everyone who existed after time stopped."

I nodded, "I knew that, I just wanted to know who you four were and how this whole place ran. See, I think I want to help you with your goal. I've seen the past when time flowed, it was beautiful and I want that world to exist again, even if it means," I felt a lump in my throat, "Dying for the cause."

Alakazam looked confused at this point, "You saw the past? How and when did you see it?"

Zoroark snarled, "You lied! Only two Pokemon have time traveling capabilities, Celebi and Dialga are those only two! You worked with Dialga, I know since Celebi refuses to even talk to anyone!"

I was done with being pushed around by this jerk, "No," I yelled back, "I saw it in a vision! I saw Dialga and three other Pokemon place a Time Gear on an altar and then leave. Dialga wasn't primal yet, he was calm and kind." I realized everyone was looking at me like I was insane, so I looked down and brushed my clothing off to avoid everyone's gaze.

Alakazam scratched his chin, "Strange, a vision you say? How is that possible? I have heard of legendary Pokemon being able to see visions, but never an ordinary human girl, uh, no offense."

I shrugged, "None taken, I'm not exactly anything special, I just got sucked into one hell of a mess."

"No, you're no ordinary human girl, Maria." a voice from the medical bay grumbled. Grovyle limped out from the room with help from Audino. He brushed her off and limped the rest of the way. "Tell them about the Dimensional Scream."

I blushed, "Oh well, I don't exactly know anything about it, Celebi just told me I had it."

Alakazam look taken aback, "You have the Dimensional Scream? Were you born with such a rare ability?"

Zoroark looked even more flabbergasted, "You talked to Celebi?" she whispered in shock.

"I guess so, I never did anything in my life to really earn it. And, yes, I've talked to Celebi, and she almost killed us." I responded.

Tyranitar cleared his throat, "Well, this is an unexpected and fortunate turn of events. We need your help with the Dimensional Scream, and you said you're willing to help our cause, correct?"

I nodded. Grovyle whispered to me, "You have no idea what you're getting into, get out of this while you can."

I turned to him, "It's my life, and I'm going to live it the way I want to live it. I want to help this cause since I believe in it."

Grovyle sighed, "Fine, if you really want to do this to yourself, I'll help you out along the way."

I smiled at him then turned back to Tyranitar, "Yes, I'm willing to help you to the best of my abilities."

He nodded then turned to Grovyle, "If you are able, take her to a vacant room, we'll begin our work tomorrow."


End file.
